DEVONPORT VISITORS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 74, 27 March 1919, Page 5

DEVONPORT VISITORS.

TAXATION OF TICKETS.

COMPANY DECLINES SUGGESTION.

The solicitor of the Devonport Ferry Co. has.advised the directors of the company that the articles of association do not permit of taxing tickets and handing the money over to the borough for the improvement of the beaches and bathing facilities. The Hon. E. W. Alison, in communicating to the Mayor the decision of the directors against the proposal, regretted, that owing to the great advance in wages and in the price of coal and all materials, and also to heavy Harbour Board charges, the carrying of the Devonport population to and from the city on exceptionally low fares was at present done at ratee which were not sufficiently remunerative to the company. But the suggestion the council made, that the tickets of passengers residing on the city side of the harbour should be increased by one penny and twopence each respectively, for single and return fares, would, in the opinion of the company's directors, be a suicidal and retrograde step, which would most detrimentally affect the company's business. He was also of opinion that the proposed increase would also prejudically affect the advancement of the borough and prove a lose to the tradespeople. It would also, to an extent, take away from the pleasure of the social life at Devonport by deterring city visitors from visiting their friends across the water, for once the fare was raised over sixpence the public would not travel freely. The race ticket and the borough's proposed additional fair scheme were not analogous.

Mr. Alison suggested that the cost of the contemplated improvements, the desirability of which is undoubted, might be covered by a scale of charges for the use of bathing conveniences as is done [.all the world ever. __ .